A Kentucky historian who has conducted two interviews with former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) in the past six weeks pointed to a telling lack of a boilerplate comment from aides of the ill lawmaker in an interview with The Hill.
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McConnell was rushed to the hospital on June 14 after what emergency dispatch audio suggests was a cardiac arrest. Yet nearly three weeks later, his staff has released almost no information about what actually happened or how serious his condition remains. That calculated opacity is fueling speculation that McConnell’s health crisis is far worse than publicly acknowledged.
Kentucky’s “longest-tenured political observer,” Al Cross, who has interviewed McConnell extensively in recent weeks, put it bluntly in an interview with The Hill: “We have very little news that’s reliable.”
The official story from McConnell’s aides was bare-bones. He was admitted to the hospital that morning and was “receiving excellent care.” No explanation was given for why, and no details were provided about the severity. Emergency dispatch audio from June 14 emerged last week, revealing that paramedics rushed to an address matching McConnell’s Capitol Hill townhouse and provided CPR to an unconscious person who may have suffered cardiac arrest, The Hill reported.
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Cross noted the odd messaging strategy. Political aides typically release boilerplate statements when a politician faces a health crisis — standard language about looking forward to returning to work, remaining engaged with constituents, that sort of thing.
McConnell’s staff has “been careful not to say he looks forward to returning to work.”
“That’s the thing I’ve been looking for, but they haven’t said that yet,” he observed, adding, “They’re causing themselves problems by not saying more about it, but he’s always been very private about his health matters.”
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